Ron Frates, 26, of Kremmling lines up a shot at Headwaters Golf Course in Grand County on Tuesday. Developers hope adding Jack Nicklaus name to a course redesign will help redevelopment in a 5,000-acre parcel between Winter Park and Granby.

Granby Ranch is betting more than $1 million that adding the Jack Nicklaus name to its 4-year-old golf course will put the Grand County resort community on the map.

It’s the latest in a series of efforts to develop the 5,000-acre parcel between Winter Park and Granby that has long struggled to find its niche.

Once called Silver Creek ski area, the resort fell into bankruptcy after its early owners were killed in a plane crash. Current owners Marise and Celso Cipriani bought it out of bankruptcy in 1995 for $12 million. They renamed it SolVista Golf & Ski Ranch in 2000 and tried to reposition it as a year-round, family-friendly resort community.

Roughly 115 condominiums and townhouses have been built on the parcel, although there are plans to build another 4,000 houses.

The development didn’t gain steam until two years ago, when the Ciprianis partnered with Gerry Engle, known for developing high-end Cordillera in Edwards and Catamount Ranch outside Steamboat Springs.

Engle helped forge a new plan to attract first-time second-home buyers from the Front Range by offering lower-priced homesites than other nearby mountain communities. Residents will have discounted access to amenities such as the SolVista Ski Basin and, in 2008, access to a redesigned Headwaters Golf Course.

Engle hopes that adding the Nicklaus name to the ranch’s Headwaters Golf Course will help the development stand out.

“There is no question that there is a marketing cachet with that name,” he said. “We think bringing the Nicklaus brand in shows buyers that we’re committed to high quality.”

Hiring a high-profile golf course designer can increase the value of surrounding real estate, experts say. The Golf Research Group found in a 2001 study that developers who used one of the top 33 golf course architects to anchor their projects raised average home prices by $100,000.

Aurora-based consultant Peter Elzi estimates the celebrity name can boost prices by as much as 20 percent.

“The Nicklaus name is still the premium name for golf course design, especially for residential communities,” said Elzi, a principal with THK Associates, an Aurora consulting firm that does golf course feasibility studies. “People will pay a higher premium to live there.”

At Granby Ranch, Englewood-based Village Homes plans to build 280 homes priced from the low $300,000s to the middle $500,000s.

“We really want it to be affordable – that is our goal,” said Doug Champion, president of the mountain division at Village Homes. “The fact that Nicklaus is going to be involved in the redesign is definitely going to help sell it. But this isn’t Vail – it’s Granby. It will still have more of a family feel to it.”

Because Granby Ranch’s redesign is being handled by Nicklaus Design rather than Jack Nicklaus himself, the Golden Bear may never set foot on the Headwaters Golf Course. The Florida-based Nicklaus Design firm employs 11 golf course architects, including the pro’s four sons and his son-in-law.

Conceptual plans call for moving some tee boxes and allowing the Fraser River to flow through some of the holes, Engle said. Construction is expected to start in spring and last two years.

“We’re not going to just scrape it,” he said. “We’re going to try and keep the course in play.”

“I’m real positive on it,” said Gerstein, a longtime broker with Coldwell Banker Mountain Properties in Winter Park. “They’ve finally got some money behind them with Village Homes and Gerry Engle. There is a momentum because the players involved have been successful elsewhere.”

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